It's almost too good to believe, but it's true! And all the better because we fought hard for it -- first through the Affordable Care Act's passage, and then when the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops objected to free coverage of contraceptives through women's employer-provided health insurance. We stared the religious right down and we won.

Ultimately, the department of Health and Human Services stood their ground (and we MADE SURE they did). And contraceptives, along with a lot of really important health screens, like for HPV, or sexually transmitted diseases, or treatment of injuries resulting from domestic violence, are all covered with no co-pay. The official HHS website has a comprehensive list.

Today, August 1, 2012, is the first day that contraceptives are covered! This could be up to $60/month, or $720 a year that'll stay in your pocket! This is fabulous news for women! Don't you want to shout it from the rooftops?

Celebrate -- take a victory lap! Here are some great images you can use on your blog or on Facebook:

This post from Jezebel has a lot of great information and recaps the fight we had with anti-choice people who tried to tell the 98% of women who use contraceptives that providing this through your health insurance was suddenly "anti-religious." Um, NO.

But the Jezebel post raises some issues with regard to eligibility and rollout schedules for co-pay free contraceptive coverage -- religious employers will still be exempt from offering this to employees. It's causing some confusion and our partners at Silver Ribbon/Trust Women have a list of resources and a fact sheet they're developing on the "grandfather" clause that talks about which health insurance plans may roll out a year later and why. So check it out for more clarification.

Join us on Twitter for a victory lap around the internets! This is a big win for us. Use hashtags #trstwmn #herhealth #Aug1.

And for a HUGE contrast between what the Obama administration achieved for women's health (Affordable Care Act, co-pay free preventive care, including contraceptive coverage, yay!), and what presidential candidate Romney would propose for women's reproductive health, see this great map of the GOP War on Women.

UGH. We can't have that. So trust women, and trust on November 6, 2012, WE'LL VOTE.

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